Cold
by Ender
Summary: Set a year from now, Isabel goes on a journey. It's Other and UC.


Title: Cold Part 1  
Author: Ender  
Email: jjazman@email.msn.com  
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. They belong to Jason Katims, WB, Melinda Metz and other people who aren't me.  
Category: Hmm, Other, kind of UC because of the Mi/I relationship  
Author's Notes: This is set approximately a year from now and assumes that everyone is in their junior year this year. Please be forewarned that this story deals with character death.   
Rating: R for violence, character death, a little sex.  
Feedback: Yes, please. Good, bad, constructive. It's all welcome.  
  
  
  
Isabel Evans stared up at the gray December sky and watched as tiny snowflakes drifted down toward her face. It was cold. Had she ever been this cold before? The roar of the ocean filled her ears and icy water lapped at her feet. She should probably move away from the water, but what was the point?   
  
They were coming. She could feel them.  
  
And they were close.  
  
No more running. No more hiding. She would wait for them here and hope that she hadn't been too late.   
  
She would wait for death with open arms and a peaceful heart.  
  
*****  
  
It had started ten months ago, although none of them had realized it at the time. Or maybe it had really started even before that, another lifetime ago on a planet that none of them remembered. That was probably more accurate. It's how historians would look at it, if they had the knowledge to consider it at all.   
  
But to Isabel it would always seem like it had started on February 14. Valentine's Day. A day for lovers. The day she'd finally decided to stop fighting destiny. The day she and Michael had made love for the first time.   
  
It was ironic, really, because the only reason she and Michael had been spending Valentine's Day together was because they'd each broken up with Maria and Alex again. They'd run into each other at the video store, both of them looking for a distraction from the constant reminders that everybody was supposed to have somebody, that true love was supposed to be lingering in the air.   
  
So they'd spent the night together watching movies and eating popcorn. Nothing out of the ordinary.   
  
But some time during the night something had shifted. Something had changed. Isabel couldn't pinpoint when the change had happened. Maybe it had been when Michael's hand had brushed against hers the first time while reaching for the popcorn. Or it could have been when Isabel had leaned over and blown into Michael's ear during his favorite part of "Braveheart", just to irritate him. Or it could have been when Michael grabbed her after she threatened to dump popcorn over his head for talking through her favorite part of "Titanic".   
  
She would never forget the way her breath had caught when her eyes had met his, the warmth that radiated from his body. The way he gently brushed a strand of hair out of her face. How his hand lingered. That first touch of his lips against hers. The electric shock that ran through her body. The need that had burned her, scorched her.  
  
It seemed like that first kiss would go on forever. When the kiss finally broke, and Michael looked at her with questioning eyes, Isabel did the only thing she could do.  
  
She ran.  
  
She told herself that she hadn't expected him to follow her. That she hadn't wanted him to follow her.  
  
But when he caught her in the park, when she felt his hand grip her arm, she knew that she'd lied to herself. And when he kissed her again, she didn't fight it. When he laid her down on the soft damp grass, she pulled him down with her.   
  
And when he pushed into her, she looked up into the star-filled sky and cried out his name.  
  
She'd expected him to run after that. That was how he usually handled situations that got too emotional. Instead he took her hand and led her home, back to his apartment. He never said a word, just held her hand and pulled her to the bed and kissed her until she couldn't think anymore.  
  
When she woke up in the morning, he was lying next to her, watching her. She could see the wariness in his eyes, the nearly concealed fear that she would walk out on him. That fear hurt, mostly because she knew it was what part of her wanted to do. Part of her wanted to pretend that none of this had never happened, that they could go back to being friends, to being normal. But they'd never been normal, had they? Not even normal friends. So she grabbed him and kissed him and quieted the fear in her heart. Neither of them called it love, but Isabel knew that for her, that was what it was. And even though they never did talk about what was happening in their relationship, from that day forward, they started spending every spare moment together.  
  
  
Isabel walked through the following weeks in a daze, not completely trusting the happiness she had found. Part of her couldn't believe that it could last. She kept waiting for something to happen. For Michael to shut her out and run away. For Michael to turn to her one day and tell her that he had made a mistake, that he was still in love with Maria.   
  
It had been hard when the others had realized what was happening. The hurt and confusion in Maria's eyes. The resignation in Alex's. The patient understanding in Max's, as if he knew that she and Michael were going to realize eventually that this was all just some alien thing and that they'd come to their senses eventually.  
  
Gradually, as the weeks passed, she started to believe that things were going to be okay.  
  
When trouble finally hit, it came from a direction that she wasn't expecting.   
  
***  
  
  



End file.
